In Wednesday’s battle against the West Virginia Mountaineers, the Kansas women’s basketball team had a mountain of its own to overcome — a 14-point deficit at halftime.
But the Jayhawks were up to the challenge, and they outscored their foes by more than two dozen points in the second half, racing to a 77-58 victory at Allen Fieldhouse and snapping their three-game losing streak against Big 12 foes.
The Jayhawks (13-4 overall, 3-3 Big 12) started out with a sluggish first half in which they scored just 20 points. But West Virginia came roaring out of the gates, taking every shot it could find from behind the arc.
WVU guard Kyah Watson found her rhythm immediately, draining her first two attempts from deep. But none of the Jayhawks had that much success from long range. They sank just 1 of 5 3-point attempts in the opening frame, and senior sharpshooter Holly Kersgieter finished the quarter scoreless on five attempts from the floor.
It was up to senior center Taiyanna Jackson and senior guard Zakiyah Franklin to keep Kansas in the fight. They combined for 11 of KU’s 15 points in the first quarter, and Jackson picked up five boards to keep the game within reach.
At first, neither team could get shots to fall in the second quarter, which opened with a five-minute stretch in which the teams scored just five points between them. Kansas was shooting under 20% from the floor at this time and just over 10% — 1 of 8 — from behind the arc.
WVU’s fortunes improved before halftime; KU’s didn’t. The Mountaineers went on two big scoring runs, 8-0 and 6-0, before the halftime buzzer sounded — the latter run took just 36 seconds.
The Jayhawks had also been plagued by errant passes and sloppy ball handling, turning the ball over 14 times in the first half, and WVU scored 18 points off of those turnovers.
But after halftime, KU cleaned up its pass attempts and started its comeback. After an offensive foul on KU junior Chandler Prater, head coach Brandon Schneider picked up a technical foul, which sent WVU (12-5, 3-3) to the free throw line for two shots. But after the call, Kansas caught fire, ending the third quarter on a 15-2 scoring run and virtually erasing the 14-point halftime deficit, KU’s largest of the season.
“Just seeing the fight from our coach and seeing how he fights for us in the game; we just wanted to turn things around and fight for him in return,” Franklin said.
Added Schneider: “I think a coach appreciates when a team responds after a technical. It’s usually a way for the players to know that I have their back. And when they come back and play that hard, I think it is reciprocated.”
West Virginia head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said the Mountaineers’ defense slipped up in the second half, and things snowballed from there.
“On the defensive end, we lost some assignments and then, all of a sudden, things just kept rolling in a direction that we didn’t want it to go in,” Plitzuweit said.
Kansas wasn’t done yet. The Jayhawks created a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, with Kersgieter hitting her first two 3-point shots of the night. After a layup from West Virginia, KU added another 9-0 run and established a firm grip on the lead, which it wouldn’t relinquish.
For the game as a whole Franklin and junior guard Wyvette Mayberry led the charge with 19 points each. Kersgieter finished with 16 points, and Jackson had a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds.
Up next, Kansas faces a tough test at No. 18 Iowa State on Saturday. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.
